Curried Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

Every week I got to my local farmer's market, and pick up food for the week.  Greens, eggs, bread, apples, whatever.  But there are plenty of things I stroll on past, like the homemade dips, mini pies, and piles of cauliflower.

You know how if you see the same thing hundreds of times, even if you don't really like it, you start to think about it?  Well, that must have been what happened, because last week I suddenly thought "we need to buy one of these heads of cauliflower and see if we can make something with it."  Naturally, I didn't go for the white cauliflower, I had to get the purple kind (which is apparently high in anthocyanins and their cancer-fighting powers) because it looked more weird.  I found an old recipe I have kept in reserve until I found myself with a head of the stuff for whatever reason, and filled in the rest of the ingredients.

This dish was delicious, and had us coming back for more.  I think it was from one of Tyler Florence's cookbooks since I found the identical recipe on one of his pages, but I couldn't identify the scanned page.  Slightly spicy, filling, nice mixture of texture, and velvety from the reduced tomato sauce melding with the ghee - an Indian clarified butter.

Once again, I implore you to use dried chickpeas with this dish as opposed to canned.  Cheaper, better, and more healthy, these are far superior and only require minimal extra effort and probably an extra hour (or 13 if you pre-soak) of prep time.

The dish comes together quickly, and only requires a single pot - I reused the one from boiling the soaked chickpeas.  We are new converts to cauliflower, so expect more recipes using it soon.




Curried Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Tomatoes
Source unknown, possibly Tyler Florence

• ¼ cup ghee or canola oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp curry powder, fresh or store-bought
• 1” piece fresh ginger, julienned
• 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 head cauliflower (~1 lb), cut into florets
• 3 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Kosher salt
• Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Heat ghee in deep skillet or pot over medium heat.  Add onion, curry powder, and ginger and cook, stirring, for a few minutes to soften onion.  Add tomatoes and cook, stirring, until tomatoes break down and soften, about 6 minutes.  Stir in tomato paste and 1 cup water to dissolve paste.  Gently fold in cauliflower and chickpeas.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, 15-20 minutes.  Uncover and continue cooking until sauce has thickened and cauliflower and chickpeas are coated with a thick gravy.  Season with salt and garnish with cilantro before serving.